A recent report that came out from the CDC details the case of a woman who was left in a coma because the skin-lightening face cream she was using contained mercury.

According to the report, a 47-year-old Mexican-American woman from Sacramento went to a doctor in July 2019 because she felt weak and was in pain. Her condition got worse and two weeks later, she had balance issues and started getting blurry vision.

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After she was hospitalized, the study authors reported that urine and blood tests were only done once she started becoming delirious. That’s when the tests revealed “abnormally high” amounts of methylmercury in her blood. This is a form of organic mercury one can find in fish and shellfish.

Upon interviewing her family, doctors discovered that the woman regularly used skin-lightening creams bought from Mexico. For the past seven years, she had been applying facial creams twice a day. The most recent cream that she used was found to have mercury in it.

Despite continued treatment for poisoning, the woman “remains unable to verbalize or care for herself, requiring ongoing tube feeding for nutritional support,” wrote the study authors.

Dr. Paul Blanc, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and study co-author, said that while it’s common to encounter poisoning from inorganic mercury in skin products, it’s much rarer to find poisoning from organic mercury. However, it’s also more toxic. As far as it’s known, the woman’s case is the first involving methylmercury poisoning from a skin-lightening cream.

“We’re concerned about any mercury contamination, but this study ups the ante,” Blanc said.

He also added that people of color, particularly women of color, are at greater risk because of “the false belief that having lighter skin is advantageous.”

The case further highlights the dangers of some topical skincare products when it contains ingredients that can enter the body through the skin. Nicotine is one such ingredient but mercury is another.

“The problem with organic mercury compounds [like methylmercury] is they go straight to the brain,” Blanc said.

Aside from daily motor functions like walking and eating being adversely affected, Blanc said that depending on how severe the poisoning is, they might even become unaware of their surroundings.

The FDA states that the ingredients to watch out for in ingredient labels are words like “mercurous chloride,” “calomel,” “mercuric,” “mercurio,” or “mercury.”

Among the symptoms of mercury poisoning is dizziness, tingling in the feet, hands, or mouth, irritability, and memory problems. If you suspect that you or a loved one may be suffering from mercury poisoning, immediately call your poison control center at 1-800-222-1222.

Mercury poisoning can cause permanent brain damage and additional complications in the future which is why quick action is of paramount importance.

“This may not be the last case we see, unfortunately,” Blanc said.